Hunted
by Gumnut
Summary: He had thought they as a race, as a species of the planet Earth, were beyond this. Virgil!Whump


He could not believe this was still possible.

How was this possible?

He had thought they as a race, as a species of the planet Earth, were beyond this.

His feet crunched in the snow, cold ice fighting with specialised rubber. The only sound on the icy frozen beach was the wind...

...and the calls of seals.

They were fleeing from him in fear. It was justified fear, considering the blood staining the white snow.

A wave shushed against the ice in the distance.

A callout.

A man, fallen through the ice. Fortunately, or unfortunately, he and Gordon had been minutes away, swooping in and deploying Four, scooping the victim out from underneath the ice shelf.

Only to realise exactly what the man was.

A hunter.

The bile in Virgil's throat had risen to the point that he felt the urge to spit on him.

There was no need to kill animals for anything other than food in the 2060's. The unwarranted slaughter for fashion sense, set his blood boiling.

Gordon's reaction had been far more violent.

"Gordon!"

"Virgil, do you realise what this bastard does for a living?!" Gordon's face was red with fury.

"I do."

Gordon was speechless for a whole two seconds. "Then what are we going to do about it?"

"Deliver him to a hospital and notify the authorities."

Gordon looked ready to explode.

Virgil swallowed his bile and put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "He'll get what's coming to him."

"What about the others?"

He caught his brother's eyes with his own. "They will get what is coming to them." He thinned his lips.

Perhaps their anger blinded them. Perhaps it had been planned. Virgil didn't know, but the next thing he did know was cold, so much cold. He swore his face was half frozen. There was blood on the snow.

His blood.

His head hurt so bad.

In his uniform. No helmet. Alone. Snow. Ice. So much ice.

A slow blink.

Get up.

Get up or your face will freeze and you will die.

The wind bit into him as his vision doubled.

He was on a beach. An icy beach. He wavered a moment, before putting one foot in front of the other.

Where was his 'bird?

The horizon was either white or water. Gordon?

He hit his comms. "Th-thunderbird Five." Ugh, his voice hurt.

Everything hurt.

"Virgil!"

"What happened?" His eyes closed a moment and he stumbled.

"Virgil!" Huh? "Scott's on his way. Along with Kayo and the GDF."

"Scott..." Pull it together. "Gordon?"

"Aboard Two...three kilometres east of you."

"What?"

"Attempted hijacking. Gordon says they attacked you first and decided to remove you from the equation by throwing you off the ship. Took Gordon a few moments of flight to deploy the gas canisters." A pause. "Hang tight. Scott will be there soon."

Soon.

The world doubled again and he fought the urge to fall on his butt.

He didn't need a frozen butt.

No frozen butt.

Voices travelled on the wind.

His head shot up and spun in response. Shit.

Damn.

A handful of men were trekking over the ice. In the distance, he could just make out a sleek white transport. How had he not heard that land?

His eyes fell on the seals, still attempting to scamper away from him.

The blood on the ice made it very clear that this was not the men's first visit of the day.

God, no.

Seal whimpers.

There were too many men.

His head hurt.

They were going to murder...

He couldn't allow that.

Just couldn't.

Scott please hurry.

God, his head hurt.

The men approached quietly, but the moment he was seen, that quiet was broken. A voice challenged him.

A gun was raised.

Virgil stood between them and the seals.

He held up a hand as if he could stop them simply by holding them back.

He wished the world would stop fading in and out.

"Virgil! What are you doing?" John.

"Stop the slaughter."

"Those men are armed!"

"I know."

"Virgil!"

"Can't let them..."

A rush of wind, a screaming roar...a familiar screaming roar.

Thank god.

Thunderbird One tore into the scenery, his brother's 'bird coming to a swooping halt above and behind him, her VTOL vibrating the air around him.

"This is International Rescue. Please stand back for your safety."

Well, that was a threat without a threat.

It was so good to hear his brother's voice.

The men backed off, alarmed. The seals, equally alarmed, screamed in fear. Shit.

"Virgil?" His eldest brother's voice was worried, yet gentle.

"Don't feel so good." His hand went to his head as the world wobbled yet again. Thunderbird engines weren't great for headaches, but right at this moment there was no other sound he could possibly love more.

He didn't feel the ice on his face as he fell.

-o-o-o-

"Goddamnit, Scott, we have the money, we've got to do something about it!"

"Kayo is working with the GDF as we speak."

"But will it be enough? They kill thousands of seals. And look at what that bastard did to Virgil."

"I know exactly what they did, Gordon. I was the one who had to pick him off the ice."

Ice. God, he hated ice. The voices were sharp knives stabbing at the inside of his skull. He groaned.

"Virgil?" Scott's voice was suddenly softer. Someone touched him.

"Ergh." Such an intelligent response.

"Hey, bro. Open those eyes. I need to see some brown. The blue is getting monotonous."

"Gor-don..."

"Ooh, he speaks."

"C'mon, Virgil, open your eyes so he'll shut up."

Well, that was motivation. His eyelids were heavy, but he was strong. Blurry brothers slowly blinked into focus.

"Hey, Virg." Gordon smiled at him from behind Scott. The annoyingly familiar ceiling of the infirmary above them.

"W-What happened?"

The smile disappeared and was replaced by anger. "Apparently saving a man's life motivates him to attack his rescuers. The bastard must have heard us talking. Came up behind you and whacked you with one of your own tools. Threatened me by threatening you. Then threw you out the hatch in the module before I could deploy the tranq canisters. You fell quite a distance. If I ever get my hands on that bastard again..."

"You gave him enough bruises, Gordon. Aunt Val is going to have to obfuscate enough already."

"He deserved it. He could have killed Virgil." A hand gripped his leg and tightened.

"I'm here, Gordon." Something flashed in his brother's eyes, something cold and violent, and Virgil was suddenly reminded of the WASP professional under that goofy facade. "I'm okay."

"You have a skull fracture, Virgil. You're lucky you didn't break anything else." A swallow. "You're lucky to be alive."

"But I am alive."

"Still want to roast him with Two's thrusters."

Virgil wanted to reach out to him, but his body was a leaden mess. Scott beat him to it, a hand landing on Gordon's arm "He will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Attempted murder is on that list." A grim smile. "You know the world's reaction when we are threatened."

Virgil blinked slowly. It was a little heartening that the world stood up in their defence if anyone raised a hand against them. The inevitable then came to mind. There would be court, and the press...he groaned.

"Virgil?" Scott was frowning in worry.

"Press and court. Sucks."

"Yeah, well, at least this time it will do some extra good. Put an end to the seal hunting, if we play it right."

Another slow blink. Seals. "Did we protect the seals?"

Blue eyes smiled at him, a hand landing on his shoulder. "Yes, Virgil, you protected the seals. The GDF arrived shortly after you collapsed."

"I collapsed?" His memory hurt with the rest of his head."

"You did. You need rest."

"You wanted me to wake up."

Another smile. "Well, now we know you are all there, you can go back to sleep."

Sleep. Sounded wonderful.

Fingers touched his forehead, combing through his hair just gently.

He let out a sigh.

Sleep.

-o-o-o-

FIN.


End file.
